Photo printer take-up control



E. E. 'BADEAU, SR 3,064,913

PHOTO PRINTER TAKE-UP CONTROL Nov. 20, 1962 Filed March 19, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l w \9 W 7 24 30 Q Q 27 g 6 K W" INVENTOR. Eve/eff I" fiaaeau 6n BYWZM ATTORNEY Nov. 20, 1962 E. E. BADEAU, SR 3,064,913

PHOTO PRINTER TAKE-UP CONTROL Filed March 19, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Eve/eff [fie dam/5n EW QZM ATTORNEY.

United States Patent @hice 3,064,913 PHUTD PRINTER T AKE-UP CONTROL Everett E. Badeau, Sn, R0. Box 269, Grand Haven, Mich. Filed Mar. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 186,713 6 Claims. (Cl. 242--55.14)

This invention relates to improvements in paper takeup control for photographic printers. The principal objects of this invention are,

First, to provide an attachment for commercial photograph printing machines which will control the take-up action on the printed paper to prevent inaccurate winding and feeding of the paper and consequent waste of paper and inaccurate printing of pictures.

Second, to provide an automatic photograph printing machine having means for automatically advancing a length of photographic-paper for successively printing photographs from negatives with a take-up mechanism that will automatically and continuously take up the printed paper without interfering with the operation of the paper feeding mechanism.

Third, to provide an automatic photograph printing machine with a constantly driven take-up roll and a spring biased slack control roll which will permit the take-up roll to operate on slack paper delivered through the printer without affecting the controlled delivery of the paper.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following description and claims. The drawings, of which there are two sheets, illustrate a highly practical form of the paper take-up control applied to a commercially available photographic printing machine.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the photographic printing machine with the paper take-up control attachment applied thereto.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view partially in cross section illustrating portions of the paper feeding mechanism of the commercial machine.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view through the paper take-up roll and drive of the commercial machine.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the photographic paper feeding mechanism of the commercial machine with the take-up regulating attachment of the invention applied thereto.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged top plan view of the attachment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary vertical cross sectional view taken along the plane of the line 6-6 in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the plane of the line 77 in FIG. 6.

There are currently available machines for printing photographic pictures from negatives in an automatic or semi-automatic fashion. The drawings illustrate such a machine currently manufactured by and available from Pako Corporation of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Only so much of the commercial machine is illustrated as is necessary to point out the relationship of the attachment of the present invention to the structure and function of the commercial machine.

The printing machine generally consists of a table I mounted on a base 2 and having a controlled source of light 3 for photographically printing through negatives. The box-like hood 4 contains light concentrating and di- 3,954,913 Patented Nov. 20, 1952.

recting elements for delivery of the light to an exposing surface 5 on which the photographic negatives are supported. Light projected through the negatives is directed upwardly against a portion of a web of photographic paper W supported on an exposure platform 6 of a paper feed mechanism.

The paper feed mechanism and exposure platform are supported on a suitable framework 7 from a pair of upright pedestals 8 and 9 projecting from the rear portion of the table 1. At its upper end the pedestal 8 supports a cylindrical magazine 10 for a supply roll of unexposed sensitized paper from which the web is drawn. The other pedestal 9 supports a take-up shaft 101 with a drive means such as the pulley 11 constantly driven as by the motor 12 when the machine is in operation. As appears more clearly in FIG. 3, the take-up shaft 101 freely rotatably supports a take-up hub or roll 13, and an adjustable friction clutch 14 regulated by the hand screw 15 provided a constant friction driving connection between the shaft and the take-up roll.

The web of unexposed photographic paper is delivered to the exposure platform 6 around guide rolls 16 and 17 by a driven feed roll 18.

The paper feed mechanism is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 2 and 4, which illustrate the feed roll 18 to be mounted on a driven shaft 19 and to coact with a lower pressure roll 20. The feed roll 18 has a one-way driving clutch engagement with the shaft 19 and the shaft 19 is driven in an oscillatory manner to advance adjustable or variable lengths of web depending upon the sizes of the picture being printed. The adjustable selector wheel 21 on the front end of the drive shaft carries contacts and controls 22 which coact with electronic control elements of the machine to adjust the length of the paper feeding operation. The paper feeding operation is initiated by the operator after the selected negative is in place by depressing the switch control bar 23 (see FIG. 1). No attempt has been made to illustrate the details of the automatic printing machanism as they are well known commercially available structures, but it should be noted that by holding the control bar 23 down the machine will automatically, successively and rapidly expose one picture after another intermittently feeding the selected length of web W by successive operations of the feed roll 18. It is in connection with this automatic and continuous feeding and picture printing that the attachment of the invention finds particular utility.

After the web of paper has been exposed, it is advanced underneath a guide roll 24 mounted on the bracket 25 secured to the exposure platform 6. The present invention provides an additional bracket plate 26 secured to the bracket 25 and projecting from the end thereof with upstanding ears 27. The cars 27 rockably or rotata'bly support a cross shaft 28-. Carried on the ends of the rock shaft are a pair of spaced support arms 29 located alongside of the web W being delivered under the guide roll 24. At the outer swinging ends the support arms rotatably support a combination guide and cushion take-up roller 30 and the web W is trained underneath this roller before being directed upwardly to the take-up roll 13.

Intermediate of their ends the support arms 29 are connected by a crossbar 31. Torsion springs 32 wound around the ends of the cross shaft 28 have one end 33 anchored to the crossbar, while the other ends 34 of the springs are anchored in holes formed in the plate 26. The

springs 32 provide a downward and outward thrust to the arms 29 yieldably forcing the cushion roller 3t; into the slack loop in the exposed web W. In order to limit the outward thrust of the roller 30 into the take-up reach of the web the ears 27 on the mounting plate of the bracket are provided with laterally outwardly turned stop lugs 35 which engage and limit outward swinging motion of the support arms 29.

The operation of the cushion roll 39 and its supporting attachment is as follows: The utility of the cushion roll attachment becomes particularly effective when the take-up roll 13 and the roll of exposed paper thereon becomes relatively large as indicated by the dotted lines at 13A in FIG. 3. The mass of the take-up roll is then rela tively large so that the action of the friction clutch M in starting the take-up roll is retarded, and once the roll is started rotating it is harder to stop the roll when the feed or delivery of exposed paper is stopped. Under these conditions, and especially when the machine is being operated automatically to repeatedly deliver a series of photographs and a substantial length of the web W, the take-up reach of the web may become initially slack due to the delay in the friction clutch picking up and starting the rotation of the take-up roll. By the time the roll 13A has taken in all of the slack web W, the feed roll 18 may be stopped either in the middle of an exposure cycle or intentionally at the end of a series of pictures while the operator is changing negatives. The inertia of the takeup roll 13A tends to continue to pull in the web W, but

instead of pulling an undesired length of unexposed paper through the feed rolls 13 and 20 the cushion roll 13 is pulled upwardly against the torsion of springs 32. This action has the dual function of delivering an additional length of the exposed web which must be taken up in any case and at the same time applying gradually increased tension on the web B to smoothly retard and stop the feed roll 13A. Thus no undesired or uncontrolled delivery of the unprinted web past the feed roll 18 is produced.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In combination with a photo printing machine having an automatically driven feed roll actuated in response to completion of the exposure of a picture to advance a length of sensitized paper and a constantly driven takeup shaft,

a take-up roll freely rotatably mounted on said shaft and adapted to have the paper advanced by said feed roll wound thereon,

an adjustable friction clutch driven by said take-up shaft and drivingly engaged with said take-up roll,

means for cushioning the action of said clutch and said take-up roll on said length of paper comprising a pair of support arms pivotally supported alongside of said length of paper,

a cushion roll rotatably mounted between the swinging ends of said arms and adapted to bear against said length of paper between said take-up roll and said feed roll,

a cross bar connected between said arms remote from their pivotal support,

and torsion springs arranged helically around the pivot axis of said arms and having their ends anchored to said cross bar and a fixed part of said machine and biasing said arms and said cushion roll to extend the length of paper between said take-up roll and said feed roll,

said arms and said cushion roll being limited in their outward paper extending direction.

2. In combination with a photo printing machine having a driven feed roll actuated intermittently to advance a length of sensitized paper and a constantly driven takeup shaft,

a take-up roll adapted to have the paper advanced by said feed roll wound thereon,

an adjustable friction clutch driven by said take-up shaft and drivingly engaged with said take-up roll,

means for cushioning the action of said clutch and said take-up roll on said length of paper comprising a pair of support arms pivotally supported alongside of said length of paper,

a cushion ro-ll rotatably mounted between the swinging ends of said arms and adapted to bear against said length of paper between said take-up roll and said feed roll,

and torsion springs having their ends anchored to said arms and a fixed part of said machine and biasing said arms and said cushion roll to extend the length of paper between said take-up roll and said feed roll.

3. An attachment for a photo printing machine having an intermittently actuated feed roll and a constantly driven friction drive to a take-up roll with a guide roll mounted on a plate between the feed and take-up rolls,

said attachment comprising a connecting plate adapted to be secured to said first plate below saidguide roll to project beyond the first plate,

upstanding earson the projecting portion of said connectingplate,

a cross shaft rotatably mounted in said ears,

0. pair ofspaced support arms mounted on the ends of said shaft,

a cushion roller rotatably mounted between the swinging ends of said arms parallel tosaid guide roll,

torsion springs coiled around said cross shaft and having their ends anchored to said connecting plate and said arms to bias said cushionroll outwardly away from said guide roll,

,and inclined flanges turnedoutwardly as stepson, said ears limiting outward swinging motion of said cushion roll.

4. An attachment for a photo printing machine having an intermitently actuated feed roll and a constantly driven friction drive to a take-up roll with a guide roll mounted on a plate between the feed and take-up rolls,

said attachment comprising a connecting plate adapted to be secured to said firstplate below said guide roll to project beyond the first plate,

upstanding ears on the projecting portion of said connecting plate,

a cross shaft rotatably mounted in said ears,

a pair of spaced support arms mounted on the ends of said shaft,

a cushion roller rotatably mounted between the swinging ends of said arms parallel to said guide roll,

torsion springs coiled around said cross shaft and having their ends anchored to said connecting plate and said arms to bias said cushion roll outwardly away from said guide roll,

and stops on said ears limiting outward'swinging motion of said cushion roll.

5. In combination with a photo printing machine having a driven feed roll actuated intermittently to ad- Vance a length of sensitized paper and a constantly driven take-up shaft,

a take-up roll adapted to have the paper advanced by said feed roll wound thereon,

an adjustable friction clutch driven by said take-up shaft and drivingly engaged with said take-up roll,

means for cushioning the action of said clutch and said take-up roll on said length of paper comprisinga support arm pivotally supported alongside of said length of paper,

a cushion roll rotatably mounted on the swinging end of said arm and adapted to bear against said length of paper between said take-up roll and said feed roll,

and a spring having its ends bearing between said arm and a fixed part of said machine and biasing said arm and said cushion roll to extend the length of paper between said take-up roll and said feed roll.

6. An attachment for a photo printing machine having an intermittently actuated feed roll and a constantly driven friction drive to a take-up roll,

said attachment comprising a connecting plate adapted to be secured to said machine between said feed roll and said take-up roll, upstanding ears on said connecting plate, a cross shaft mounted in said ears, a pair of spaced support arms rotatably mounted on the ends of said shaft, a cushion roller rotatably mounted between the swinging ends of said arms parallel to said guide r011, spring means bearing between said connecting plate References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Holland Nov. 24, 1903 Twiss et al. Mar. 17, 1936 Blackman et a1 Nov. 24, 1953 Lahti Apr. 8, 1958 

